of 1907 meant little change in the internal economy or in the personnel
of this Battalion. Its mounted infantry company, 140 strong, and its
cyclists were lost in the interest of uniformity. Nevertheless, the
change made us better fitted for war by incorporating us in the larger
Divisional organisation essential in European war. Volunteer units
supplied select companies for South Africa in 1899 and 1900. The East
Lancashire Territorial Division was ready to take the field _en bloc_
against the Germans in 1914.

The story to be told in these pages is so largely that of one battalion
that a word can be said of its leaders in August, 1914, without making
any claim to special pre-eminence, for our old and honourable rivalries
with other local battalions faded long ago in mutual confidence.

Lieutenant-Colonel H.E. Gresham, who had commanded since 1912, was an
ideal C.O.--a Territorial of long service and sound judgment, a fine
shot, and in civil life a distinguished engineer. In Major J.H.
Staveacre, the junior Major, we had an incomparable enthusiast, with a
zest for every kind of sport, a happy gift of managing men and an almost
professional aptitude for arms which had been enriched by his
experiences in the Boer War. Captain P.H. Creagh of the Leicestershire
Regiment was a fine adjutant, whose ability and character were to win
him recognition in wider fields. His management of our mobilisation was
beyond praise. The quartermaster, Major James Scott, was an old
Manchester Regiment man, with a record of good work at Ladysmith and
Elandslaagte. Of the company officers and N.C.O.'s, there is no need to
add here to the tribute which will be theirs in any detailed history of
Gallipoli. Nothing was more characteristic than their readiness to
volunteer for foreign service as soon as we mobilised--long before the
immensity of the War was understood, and considerably before the day of
the lurid poster and the recruiting meeting.

The Manchester Territorial Infantry Brigade was embodied on the 4th
August 1914, and on the 20th marched out through Rochdale to a camp on
the Littleborough moors near Hollingworth Lake, where they were asked to
offer themselves for service abroad. Twenty-six officers and 808 men of
our Battalion (roughly, 90 per cent. of our strength) volunteered. A
wise pledge, afterwards unavoidably broken, was given by the authorities
that no man should be transferred from his own unit against his will.

We dropped